It was a day of leaks yesterday – first a plan to try to “disrupt” the Liberal convention and undermine Trudeau, which seemed a bit foolish and costly, given that their “agents” would have to purchase convention memberships for the purpose of lame buttons and Trudeau-branded rolling papers. (The Liberals, meanwhile, say the attention is flattering). And while that one looked deliberately leaked to the media, the following other leaks weren’t. A 70-page re-election strategy was next to make its way to the Toronto Star, which talks a lot about leveraging Laureen Harper to help put a human face on the government, while totally ignoring Thomas Mulcair in the strategy. And if that wasn’t enough, it was then revealed that the PM’s former chief of staff, Guy Giorno, will be the party’s new legal advisor. Paul Wells notes that even though the party has often ”leaked” false memos in the past this does appear that they have an unintended leaker in their ranks.
In the lead up to Budget Day, Jim Flaherty suddenly got active on the Twitter Machine, and started tweeting haircut selfies and asking for retweets to determine which tie he should wear. Because that’s the social media strategy, apparently. In the massive Budget Day Eve hint parade, there is talk that they want to tackle the Canada-US price gap, which is a bit moot now because of our falling dollar, not to mention that the price gap is a complex problem (as the Senate study showed) and that attempts to tinker with it will not only be overly bureaucratic, but would likely cause deflationary pressures, which our monetary policy would adjust to compensate for. Flaherty has also been talking about youth joblessness, and infrastructure. The Maclean’s Econowatch team gives their predictions here. With talk of more money for the auto sector in this budget – just like every budget ever – Andrew Coyne notes that we’re being held hostage to their constant demands, and it’s our own fault for constantly giving in.
I have a story on PostMedia about a letter that Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai wrote to all Conservative MPs and Senators, warning them against Michael Chong’s reform bill, which he believes would be “dangerous.”
Pierre Poilievre spent the day reassuring everyone that no, the Chief Electoral Officer wouldn’t be muzzled under the new elections bill, but then offered to change some of the language if it meant reassuring the CEO. Poilievre also insists that he wasn’t criticising the CEO with his “team jersey” comment.
As the government gets set to roll out a new series of First and Second World War commemorations, veterans groups are saying that while these kinds of commemorations are important, the government doesn’t need to go overboard while there are so many veterans with other needs. Meanwhile a private member’s bill about jailing those who deface cenotaphs is being opposed by Romeo Dallaire in the Senate, who says that these people need education, not jail time.
The RCAF’s Snowbirds demonstration squadron are cancelling their US dates because of budget cutbacks.
As the Conservatives get set to roll out yet another ad campaign, this one CRA-based to talk about all the wonderful tax measures in the budget, the government’s own polling data is showing that the public has fatigue with these kinds of ads, and aren’t responding to them any longer.
There is much grousing from both public sector unions and small business that Bell Canada got a $400 million deal to help implement the government’s new Shared Services email system.
The NDP want lobbying rules revisited after the Chuck Strahl revelations, based solely on the appearance that he might have been doing something wrong when he in fact has been seen to be complying with the rules.
Senate Speaker Noel Kinsella let Laura Stone shadow him for a day – which ended up being the day that charges were laid against Brazeau and Harb. It’s a great story, including the video pieces, and Kinsella made the point that there is a lot of ignorance about the Senate and what it does, which isn’t surprising because it’s barely taught at all in schools. Also not surprising is the NDP trying to make partisan hay out of that statement by putting out a press release that essentially said “He’s calling us stupid!”
With the demise of Heenan Blaikie, former PM Jean Chrétien is heading to work for law firm Dentons instead.
Peter O’Neil wonders where all of BC’s colourful rabble-rousing MPs went, in an era of much more bland, careerist MPs.
And in the spirit of celebrities reading mean tweets, National Post columnists read the comments on their pieces. Fun!